Witches - Part Five - Germany

In 1487, German Catholic Clergyman Heinrich Kramer published a book on witchcraft. The book was called Malleus Maleficarum in Latin. That’s Witch’s Hammer in English. In the book, it warned of a secret demonic conspiracy against the Christians of the land. The Malleus Maleficarum was the most detailed, exhaustive, and authoritative book ever written on witchcraft. It states that the belief in witches is such an essential part of the Catholic faith that to doubt the existence of witches is an act of heresy.” The book goes on to say that “by nature woman is lower than man, is naturally unclean, given to lust and recklessness, and is easily seduced by the Devil into sexual waywardness. Was it not the woman, not the man, who was seduced by Satan and took the first bite of the forbidden fruit? Woman is from man, having been made from Adam's rib. Now that rib, being one of the lesser bones of the body, was from the lower portion of the rib cage, and, furthermore, a rib is not a straight bone; it is crooked.” With infinite detail the proof of witches is expounded, along with how they are to be identified, how to be tortured (beaten, burned with boiling oil, lighted candles held under the arm pits, hanging by the hands, starvation, throwing into pools of water, stretching on the rack, confinement in jail for months without trial, etc.), and how to be disposed of (burning at the stake was best). All the procedures for the operation of the Inquisition are there in shocking detail for the modern reader, for it was the textbook of instruction for the hundreds of fanatically zealous inquisitors who roamed the countryside intent on cleansing the world for their love of God.

The book came at a time when provinces often passed from Catholic control to Protestant control and from Protestant control to Catholic. It was an unsettling time known as the Thirty Years War and it was a time of intense paranoia. There was immense distrust and accusations ran wild. Both sides accused the other of being controlled by the devil. It was in this climate that many people got accused of being witches. As a result of these accusations, twenty women would be burned here, Thirty women would be hanged there. Pretty soon hundreds of women were being executed, taking entire villages off the map. In 1609, Pope Paul confirmed Johann Gottfried von Aschhausen as the new Prince-Bishop of Bamberg (Modern day Germany) and forbade "wizardry, sorcery, astrology, divination, charms, fortune telling, spells, love potions, conjugations and incantations, which are the very filth of the wicked, heathen falsehood and deceit." As a result, they burned 300 witches in his state in a 13 year span. His successor burned 600 witches in 10 years. 

https://youtu.be/Y2Q1Vo9kduo?si=_pu5ys53xfeQozdY

Stop at 9:11, start at 11:09-15:50

15:50 = modern witch persecution

Experience of the family of an accused witch

Witches p112-115

Georg Haan

Georg Haan was a doctor and member of the city council of Bamberg. He was married to Katharina Haan and had two daughters. Haan was among the most well- known personalities in Bamberg. He publicly opposed the policy of witch persecution by Prince-Bishop Johann von Dornheim, and in 1627. Shortly after, Georg Haan departed for a business trip. While he was gone, his wife was arrested for witchcraft after having been pointed out by, among others, Hans Morhaubt, the son of Christina Morhaubt (who herself was burnt alive in August 1627). Katharina Haan was tortured until she confessed and was burnt alive after 16 January 1628. Shortly after, her daughter and namesake was swiftly arrested, tortured, sentenced and burned also.

When Georg Haan returned to Bamberg, he found that his wife and daughter had been executed during his absence, and that his personal safety was also in danger. He too was arrested and accused of sorcery. According to protocol, he had been denounced by his son, Adam. He confessed to sorcery and was executed. In his will, he left his entire fortune to his children and other private people, and nothing to the Church. The following year, 1629, his remaining daughter, Ursula, and his son, Adam, were arrested and burnt. His remaining three sons were given protection by the Dominican Abbey and survived the witch trials, which finally ended in 1632.

Changing opinions 

P128-top 129 of Witches

Johann Weyer (1515-1588)

Johann Weyer was born into a family of modest means in the small city of Grave, The Netherlands. As a child he was studious, quiet, and religious, characteristics of all his later life. In his late teens he lived for two years in the home of his teacher Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535), a brilliant but erratic scholar, physician, free-thinker, and a model who set a lasting example for the young Weyer by his humane attitude toward the sick and unfortunate. Leaving Agrippa, Weyer studied medicine at the University of Paris, where he received his doctor's degree in 1537, at the age of 22. In the next several years of general practice he came face to face with the horrors of the witch hunts and was outraged at the self-righteousness of the Inquisition and its guide book, The Malleus Maleficarum. He railed in writing and open speech against the revolting discussions in that book of the erotic perversions of the devil with women, of the fantastic claims concerning the powers of demons, and of the murderous persecutions of "silly old women” by Church and State. His bluntly stated criticisms forced him to seek protection as physician to Duke William V. Although the public saw him as a potential satanic-sympathizer, nobody was able to make such accusations against someone that close to the Duke.

Weyer as a Scientist

During his life Johann Weyer was ever the astute observer of the world around him, which seemed to him more like a huge clinic filled with sick people. He published a number of works on general medical topics, perhaps the most notable of which was his treatise on scurvy. He noticed that eating citrus fruits was an effective treatment. He didn’t know about vitamin C like we do today but through trial and error he noticed the pattern. With this new knowledge, explorers could cross the Atlantic without getting sick. The information reached Britain who supplied limes upon their ship and became known as “limeys”.

But his greatest work, his first publication, was the book destined to leave a lasting effect on the development of psychiatry. The book was widely read, though its message was little respected or followed at the time. Weyer's life was spent in clinical observation. In horror he wondered at the atrocities committed around him in the name of the Mother Church and God. He knew first hand of the tortures, the filth, disease, and death in the dungeons and jails where "witches" were held for long pre-trial periods. He was repulsed by the fanatical methods of execution: burning at the stake, drowning, hanging and beheading.

He, too, was more or less a practicing Catholic, and he believed that witches and demon possession could exist, but he saw women called accomplices in evil, but who were so frightened, so ignorant, so destroyed mentally by their hallucinations arising out of their miserable lives, that they were unable to sustain any denial of the charges against them. Believable and trusted witnesses were rarely to be had. Many such women he studied individually, often taking them into his own home where he and his wife cared for them, closely observed them, counseled them, and brought them back to mental and physical normalcy. He saw mental illness where the Church and State saw criminality, and he was the first physician boldly to confront the Inquisition and deny its right to carry on in the name of Christianity. The lengthy arguments and twisted logic of The Malleus Maleficarum as to why confession under torture was valid (the victim was finally brought to her senses) particularly fired his scorn.

Father of Psychiatry

Johann Weyer, being first of all an astute clinical observer, did his observing and reporting by a "hands on” method. He demonstrated clearly, case after case, that mental illness was a completely separate entity from the ignorance, superstition, and hallucinations which together made "witches" out of innocent people. He insisted and conclusively showed that mental illness, like any other human illness, should be treated by physicians, and not by the Church or State. His critical analysis of the scourge of witchcraft, his scientific, descriptive, observational approach to the problem, are the very roots of modern psychiatry, for his was the first statement clearly to demonstrate psychopathology as something completely apart from the work of the Devil and something which could be successfully treated. He was the first to outline such treatment. " It was a long process, from Weyer to the modern practice of psychiatry, and it was not until within living memory that psychiatry became accepted as a respectable member of the medical world. Johann Weyer left a quiet message for all of us. He left proof that all human beings are vulnerable to the sufferings of mental illness, and that sanity is a very fragile thing.

Mental Conditions were not well understood at the time. Conditions related to age such as Parkinson, Alzheimer’s or Dementia were not understood. Conditions such as schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorders and PTSD had no diagnosable name. These people have hallucinations, uncontrollable thoughts and actions but we’re believed to have been possessed by the devil. Johan Weyer is the reason why mentally ill people today see a doctor or psychiatrist, not a priest or an exorcist.

Friedrich Von Spee

Read highlights in the introduction

Stage One: Accusations

Page 24 & 25
49
52
41
133-134

Do you see any problems here?

Stage Two: Arrest

68 - presumed Guilty?
If she tried to flee, she's compelled by a guilty conscience. If she stays, she's attempting to blend in.
215

Heads I win, tails you lose

Stage Three: Torture

77 - shin crushing
74, 85, 193 - guaranteed results
105 - false confessions

162-154 - Dies in Jail

Stage Four: Incriminating Others

79, top 98
Seeing others at the sabbath- 194, 36&37

Or not - 97

"I will even concede that the woman didn't resist torture under her own strength. Why do they assert that she did it with the devil's help rather than God's?"

100 - Guilty either way

Hopelessness

131 & 132

"I have noticed that the only way trials are conducted is so that in the end the truth does not shine brightly throughout Germany, but bonfires."

Human Rights

The unfair system accused witches found themselves in, gave rise to the human rights and constitutional rights were enjoy today.

Freedom of religion- the freedom to chose your own religion, or to choose no religion at all. A few hundred years ago, choose the wrong kind of Christianity could get you killed.

freedom from unreasonable search and seizures- the King's men used to be able to enter your house and search it at any time.

Innocence until proven guilty- In courts, no efforts were made to defend an accused witch. They assumed they were guilty and only attempted to prove that guilt.

Right to remain silent - torturers used to make accused witches speak by any means possible

Right to a speedy trial - today, the police can't keep you in jail for a long time without evidence. In the middle ages, if they didn't have an evidence, they'd keep you in the dungeon until they could find some.

Right be judged by a jury- although not a perfect system and not used in every country, it attempts to take power out of the hands of the judge and makes a small group of people the decision-makers.

Right to a lawyer- everyone has the right to a skilled legal dependent, someone to fight for your freedom, guilty or not. Witches in the middle ages were alone and often their only defense was themselves.

Right to face your accusers- People can no longer anonymously accuse each other.

Prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment- today, there is worldwide condemnation against anybody found to be using torture.

All of these have been earned by a thousand years of atrocities. We take them for granted today but only a couple of hundred years ago, our ancestors had none of them.



Conclusion

A preist living in Germany. He was witness to the interrogation of many women who were being charged with witchcraft. Instead of reviling the broken and doomed women, he listened to them and saw their humanity. He was a strict proponent of human rights, rule of law and critical thinking. He encouraged all of Germany to look and think about what they were doing. His passion was to save innocent lives and create a legal system that was fair for everyone. As you read his pleading with his fellow Germans, you come to understand how our laws and human rights became so sacred. The fair legal system and rights we take for granted today, cost the blood and lives of millions.

Friedrich Von Spee accompanied many women, he believed to be innocent to their firery and barbaric ends. He provided spiritual support when everyone around them condemned them as evil. He spoke against wrongs when to do so held high risk for himself personally.